Tattoo History - Tattoo Machine

Through out the history of mankind tribes, people and even nations decorated their bodies with indelible images. Each had it's own reason and with it it's own technique.

The Eskimos treated their skin with sooty threads leaving scar like marks. The Maori of New Zealand cut color with a wooden instrument similar to a chisel into the facial skin. Samoans use a comb like instrument sometimes made out of humans bones and press it into the skin. The natives of Tahiti tataued with sharp bones or shark tooths. The Japanese picked, and still pick the color into the skin with a wooden pin bolt called Hari. The Mayas and Aztecs in Mexico used fresh thorns and quills of cactuses. The north american Indians engraved with flint stone spikes attached to a wooden stick.

After the world circumnavigator James Cook introduced the first Polynesian Omai to Great Britain's society, and after more and more sailors let the natives decorate their bodies with their art, body art had it's first florescence. Despite all enthusiasm; the tattooing process was very painful, dirty and time consuming and rarely generated a satisfying result. Until the 8th of December 1891. The day Samuel O'Reilly patented his tattoo machine and paved the way to a new area of tattooing. The road was cleared for a relatively simple, almost pain free and most importantly clean performance.

O'Reilly's tattoo machine was based on the "Autographic Printing Pen" Thomas Alva Edison (1847 - 1931) invented and patented in London on the 29th of October 1875 (Patent No. 3762). The tattoo historian Paul Sayce says: "It is still unknown why the american born Edison first patented his pen in Great Britain but one year later he also patented the pen in the Unites States. If O'Reilly's machine was similar to Edison's pen, it can be said, the patent of the first british tattoo machine had it's origins in a puncher invented and patented by three brits, Newton Wilson, Andrew Hanson and Michael Treinen, on December 7th 1878 (Patent No. 3762)."

In principle all modern tattoo machines go back to O'Reilly's invention. As soon as the power is activated one or two coils made of a copper wire work as an electromagnet, pulling a metal spring which is mounted to the tattoo machine's frame. On the other side of the spring hangs the needle bar with needles soldered to it. The spring which now is carrying the needle bar deactivates the electric circuit as soon as it has reached the end and jumps back to it's original position. If the tattoo artist keeps the electric circuit active by pushing a switch the process starts over and over again resulting in a up and down of the needle bars and therefore the needles. Sometimes up to 5.000 stitches per second prick the color under the skin. The speed of the up and down movement of the needles again allow the drawing of straight lines and exact contours in the first place.

The amount of the needles soldered to the needle bar varies and depends on the detail accuracy of the motive and allows smooth coloration, change overs and shadings.

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